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batsutousaiTitle: Our Sinner's Redemption Extras
Fandom: Fullmetal Alchemist: Brotherhood
Author: Batsutousai
Rating: Teen
Warnings: Original character death, some explicit language
Chapter Summary: This is from chapter ten of Come What May, following how Roy found out about the train explosion and got to Central.
A/N: This was probably the first side-scene I knew I was going to have to write, even though it's one of the last ones I did for Come What May's set. I can only hope it turned out as awesome as it was when it first formed itself in my head.
Technically, this side-story takes place at the end of chapter 9, but because you don't know that Roy's going to show up in Central until chapter 10, I opted to wait and attach it to 10, instead.
They had all just sat down for dinner, when one of the soldiers assigned to watch duty, Sergeant Smith, hurried into the fort mess hall, headed straight for the officer table. The chatter around the room died off, everyone eyeing the interruption with interest.
Smith stopped in front of Roy and saluted. As soon as he'd returned the salute, Smith said, "Sir! There are a couple of villagers come down from Resembool. They say they've brought bread for us." His mouth turned down a bit at the corners, brow furrowing, like he didn't really get what was going on.
Roy completely understood, though the mention of bread caused his stomach to start sinking; the woman in Resembool who Edward was passing his post through, Marie, was the town baker's wife, and if this was her...
He stood. "I see. If you'll show me to them, Sergeant?"
Smith gave a brief nod. "Yes, sir."
Roy couldn't even pretend to be surprised when Riza rose and followed him, but he was a little confused when Miles also joined them. Which must have shown on his face – or Miles was used to having to explain himself, now he was working under someone other than Major General Armstrong – because he said, once they'd left the mess, "It occurs to me that Fullmetal grew up in Resembool."
Sometimes, Roy forgot that Miles had actually had the opportunity to get to know the Elrics a bit while they were up north; of course he'd equate a surprise visit from their civilian neighbours as having to do with Edward. And, given that the last Edward-based crisis that Roy had been handed required him spending extra time in Central, it was actually fairly sensible for the two next highest ranked officers at the fort to come along and hear, first hand, what trouble Roy would have to clean up this time.
(Roy sincerely hoped it wouldn't be another case of Edward butting heads with a ranking officer. Even if Edward decided to be difficult again, Grumman should have the sense to step in and handle it without needing Roy to run up to Central and play mediator.)
It was indeed Marie waiting for them, as well as her husband – Herman or Sherman or something like that – whom Roy had only met once, when Marie had been stuck in bed with a cold and he'd been managing the shop. Marie was wringing her hands, a shaky smile on her face, while her husband looked grim and – if Roy was reading him right – more than a little worried.
"I'm Brigadier General Roy Mustang, the commander of this fort," he offered as he stopped in front of them, and the soldiers who had been standing at attention to either side of the civilians saluted and stepped back, likely responding to a motion from Riza. "Sergeant Smith said you brought bread?"
Marie pressed her hands tight together, turned an uncertain look on first Roy, then her husband.
"We did," Sherman/Herman said, his voice tight. "Our cold storage is having trouble, so we had to use up most of our store of yeast, to keep it from going to waste, but that left us with far more bread than we can sell off. Marie suggested we bring it down here, figured you soldiers could do with a bit of fresh bread."
Roy had no idea how much of that story was true, but it was true that the military's idea of mess rations for outposts like theirs were...not always the most appetising, and bread from a proper bakery would be welcomed by everyone, even Roy. (Hence the reason buying anything from Marie on Sundays always felt like a guilty pleasure.) So he offered them one of his friendlier smiles and replied, "I've little doubt it'll be well received. If you give me the figures, I'll see to it that the military reimburses you for the cost."
Sherman/Herman let out a grunt, though what it meant, Roy couldn't begin to guess. "That'd be appreciated."
Riza stepped forward and said, "Sergeant Smith, if you would gather some members of your watch to help take the bread into the mess?"
"Happy to, sir," Smith said, completely honest, before motioning to the soldiers who had been guarding Marie and her husband to help him.
Roy waited until the soldiers had left with their first load, before focussing on Marie. "Did something happen?" he asked, letting some of his concern into his voice.
Marie swallowed and nodded. "It was on the radio," she said quietly. "A train in the south was blown up, and the people who did it are blaming Ed."
The sinking feeling in his stomach resolved itself into a proper freefall, and Roy clenched his jaw against a curse. With Edward hunting down splinter cells of a terrorist organisation, there'd been the potential for something like this to happen practically from day one, but Roy had been hoping the groups would continue being minor inconveniences.
"Ed isn't in trouble, is he?" Marie pleaded, while her husband's expression took on a definite edge of protectiveness. "The military wouldn't really take him to task because someone named him as their reason for...for that, will they?"
Roy wondered if Edward realised exactly how much the people he'd grown up with cared about him. Somehow, he doubted it.
"It is extremely unlikely that Fullmetal will be held accountable for the actions of terrorists, whether they're blaming him or not," Roy replied in his most soothing voice. "If it will ease your concerns, I'm willing to drive up to Resembool and ring Central Command to make certain."
Marie's shoulders loosened slightly. "I would appreciate that," she admitted, before ducking her head. "Thank you, General."
"Of course," Roy replied, before turning to Riza and Miles and motioning for them to take a couple steps away from the civilians with him. Riza knew what was going on, but Miles didn't, so Roy quietly explained, "Fullmetal is hunting down parts of a pro-Bradley organisation that have been causing minor disruptions all over Amestris. The Führer set him on the mission, but it is classified as top secret."
Miles' lips thinned and he nodded. "Führer Grumman can't be seen to be taking a stance against pro-Bradley sentiment, not unless he wants a civil war," he guessed. "And since Fullmetal already has a history of being a bit of a loose cannon, he's the perfect scapegoat."
Roy couldn't quite stop a grimace, felt a bit better at seeing it mirrored on Riza's face. "I doubt the Führer would leave Edward hanging, should it come to that," she said, her tone suggesting she'd find a way up to Central and shoot her grandfather if he did try anything like that.
Roy cleared his throat. "I don't believe that was the intention," he offered. "There is always the potential for military backing, for something as large-scale as this group seems to be, so keeping the mission need-to-know protects Fullmetal and his team."
Miles nodded in understanding; doubtless, Armstrong had been required to use subterfuge to undermine Central-sent spies in Briggs, in the past. "Is there a chance Fullmetal was on that train?"
Roy shook his head, because the last report he'd got had Edward and his team still up north. As often as he complained about Briggs troops chasing him around, Roy had been a little surprised to hear that the young man didn't have any plans to move on, but he also seemed to have a list of splinter cells to hunt down and take out; if not for Grumman's orders months ago sending them north, Roy suspected Edward would have remained in the west until he couldn't find even a whisper of another group. "No."
"Sir," Riza said, concern darkening her eyes, "Edward is not going to take this news well."
Well, that was one thing Roy didn't need to be told; both Elrics had an unfortunate habit of blaming themselves for events that had been outside of their control, yet within their sphere of influence. (It was a failing which Roy, admittedly, also suffered from.) Even if the terrorists hadn't called out Edward specifically, he would end up blaming himself for spending too much time in the north, instead of trying to cover the entire country all at once, and if someone didn't talk to him, Roy could easily see him running himself ragged in an attempt to keep another attack like this one from happening.
If Alphonse were still in Amestris, Roy would have trusted him to talk Edward down, but he was in Xing, too far away to be able to help until it was too late. Gracia or Miss Rockbell would be the next best options, but everything Roy knew about his youngest subordinate said he would avoid both of them, insisting it was an attempt to keep them from worrying. That meant it was going to be up to Roy to somehow catch Edward and talk him down.
Somehow, Roy resisted the urge to sigh.
"The trains are probably on a limited schedule, if they're running at all," Roy said. "I'll attempt to be gone for no more than two weeks."
It was only because he knew her so well, that he saw the approval in Riza's eyes.
"We'll manage any difficulties that might arise while you're gone, sir," Miles promised without a hint of disapproval.
(Sometimes, Roy found himself wondering at the power Edward had, to inspire fondness – if not outright friendship – in so many different people; civilian and soldier, Amestrisan and Ishvalan and Xingan, even a homunculus. Which wasn't to say he was incapable of making enemies, because Roy had received plenty of complaints about the young man over the years, only that he had the power to do something like make a single radio broadcast speaking out in support of their Führer, and public opinion would almost immediately follow his lead.)
"Thank you, Lieutenant Colonel. Captain."
They both saluted him, then Miles turned to return to the mess, while Riza motioned with her head in the direction of the officer tents. "I'll oversee the unloading of the bread, if you wanted to pack a bag, sir." Couched like a suggestion, but Roy heard the order implicit in the words.
He flashed her a smile that was, perhaps, a little too helpless, and agreed, "An excellent suggestion, Captain," before leaving to do so.
In the time it took him to gather his things and return to Marie and her husband's auto mobile, the last of the bread had been unloaded, and the watch had returned to their positions, leaving only Riza with the two civilians. She must have had someone grab a key from the carpool tent during one of their bread runs, because she held out the key to the car Roy usually took up to Resembool as he joined them.
"Thank you, Captain," he offered as he accepted it.
She held out a cloth with something inside with her other hand, her eyes glinting with humour. "Don't take too long, sir," she suggested drily, "or I'll have to come up after you."
"I'll keep that in mind," Roy promised as he accepted the cloth, then turned to Marie and her husband. "I'll be right behind you."
Marie offered him a smile that only trembled a little bit. "Thank you for doing this, General."
Roy nodded to her and made his way over to his usual car. Once on the worn track that led from the fort to Resembool, following the civilian auto mobile, Roy cautiously opened the cloth Riza had given him, revealing some of the fresh bread that had been brought down, as well as some of the dried meat that they kept on hand for meals away from the mess.
Some days, he wasn't certain how he'd survived his time in the military before she'd become his adjunct.
Despite how late it was when they finally reached Resembool, the main street was practically teeming with villagers, and at least three different shops had their doors and windows thrown open so they could hear the report coming from the radio. (Which, from what Roy overheard, sounding like more repeating the facts everyone knew, because they didn't have anything new.)
People turned to watch as Roy followed Marie and her husband to their shop, and he felt uncomfortably obvious, even with his coat covering most of his uniform. Still, no one seemed hostile, just watchful, like they were waiting to see what he'd do, if he'd start citing regulations to get them back in their homes, or something equally heavy-handed.
(The military wasn't well-liked in Resembool, he knew, despite one of the more famous State Alchemists hailing from here. Roy had told Edward, once, that he knew better than to flirt with a small-town woman, but it was more that he knew he wasn't welcome in Resembool, so he'd taken pains to inconvenience as few people as possible when he visited.)
"You can use our phone, General," Marie offered as they reached her shop.
Roy wanted to refuse – he didn't want to be an inconvenience, and he was going to have to use Grumman's home number, this late – but he suspected the offer was as much for Marie's peace of mind as anything else, and he'd very likely end up with a crowd if he used the public station phone. So he put on a smile and said, "That would be appreciated, thank you."
Sherman/Herman led the way into the shop and turned on the light in the front before vanishing into the back, while Marie showed the way to the phone on the far wall.
He quickly dialled Grumman's home number and stood through a couple rings, which were interrupted by the man himself finally picking up and snapping, "This had best be important."
Roy refused to be cowed by that tone – Riza's disapproving look was at least twice as terrifying as her grandfather's most irritated snarl – instead flatly returning, "It's important."
Grumman was silent for a moment, before sighing. "I didn't expect to hear from you until Sunday," he said, unusually honest. (Chris had always said that the best time to get a straight answer out of the man was when he was either exhausted or drunk.)
"Some of Fullmetal's neighbours were concerned he would be facing punishment, due to the terrorists using his name."
"There are a couple of generals who would be quite pleased at that outcome," Grumman replied flatly, "but they have been reminded that this administration punishes culprits, not victims."
Roy hadn't anticipated anything else, but something in his chest eased at the assurance that Grumman wouldn't let anyone attack Edward for something he was probably already blaming himself for. "I'll be sure to pass that on, sir."
Grumman grunted. "Is that all, Mustang? As you might have guessed, it's been a hell of a day, and I'd like to get some sleep."
"Just one last thing, sir," Roy returned. "If Fullmetal stops through Central, please tell him he needs to stay there until I get in."
"Fine," Grumman snapped, before hanging up.
Roy sighed and gently returned the handset to its cradle, then turned towards where Marie was standing on the far side of the counter, next to the open door. A few other villagers were standing in the opening, watching Roy expectantly. "The Führer guarantees that Fullmetal will not be facing any charges in relation to this incident," he promised.
Relief raced across the faces of his audience, and all but Marie vanished back out onto the street. Roy could hear, through the open door, people passing on the news that Edward wasn't in any trouble.
Marie leant back against the wall, smile grateful. "Thank you," she said, for what seemed like the dozenth time that evening. "I know it must seem silly to you, that we've all been so worried about him, but..." She shrugged. "He's one of us. We all watched those boys grow up, losing so much..." She swallowed and looked away. "I'm sorry."
"Don't be," Roy replied, a little too honest, but, then, he was already trusting her with his correspondence from Fullmetal, most of which had the ability to endanger Fullmetal, should it fall into the wrong hands. "Those boys need people who worry about them, despite what they might say to the contrary."
She shot a small, sad smile at him. "They're both a little too much like their mother, in that way."
Roy shrugged. "I'm afraid I never had the opportunity to meet her."
She nodded, then asked, "You're going up to Central?"
Roy sighed and offered her a slightly wry smile. "Military punishment may not be awaiting Fullmetal, but experience tells me he'll be perfectly capable of handling that on his own."
Marie winced. "Oh, no. I didn't even think of that. And Al is travelling!"
"I'll do what I can," Roy promised.
She blinked and considered him for a moment, before putting on a smile that seemed far more relieved than he thought his words had merited. "You'll need a place to stay, if you intend to catch the train as soon as they give the all-clear for them to start running again," she pointed out.
Roy cleared his throat and shook his head. "I'd intended to sleep in the car," he admitted.
Marie tutted. "We have a perfectly good couch, if you don't mind the early hours, or Richard and Brenda down the way, their son's moved up to New Optain, so they've a proper bed free."
"I wouldn't want to impose," Roy attempted to demur.
"Nonsense," Marie returned pleasantly enough, even as her expression promised there was no way Roy was going to be allowed to sleep in the car.
"I'll take the couch," he decided, since he already knew Marie and her husband.
"Wonderful! Let's see to getting your case, then."
The couch was unexpectedly comfortable, but that could have been because Roy was used to sleeping on a camp cot, rather than because it was actually a comfortable couch. Either way, he had one of the best night's sleep he could remember having in quite some time, which seemed odd, given recent events, but he suspected his normal nightmares would return in due course.
He met Marie and her husband, Herman's, two sons for the first time. They were around the same age as Edward and Alphonse, and the brief conversation he had with them suggested they'd all gone to school together, and that the Elrics had an entirely unsurprising habit of studying whatever they felt like, which very rarely had anything to do with the teacher's instruction.
(Somehow, Roy kept from laughing.)
The males of the house had all followed Marie's lead in acting welcoming towards Roy, which felt a little odd, but Roy decided to blame it on Edward – it seemed the most likely explanation for anyone with a connection to him, honestly – and determined it wasn't worth questioning it.
The morning paper came later than the family usually expected, judging by Herman's comment when he accepted his copy from the boy who brought it by. Roy had intended to either wait until Herman was done, or go to the general shop down the way in twenty minutes or so to buy his own copy, but Herman held it out to him, saying, "We heard it all."
"Thank you," Roy managed with only a little surprise as he accepted the paper. The headline was a glaring 'GROUP BOMBS SOUTH TRAIN; CALLS FULLMETAL ALCHEMIST TERRORIST'.
Well, that boded well.
He was in the act of unfolding the paper to read it, when his eyes caught on the date. "It's the twenty-seventh," he heard himself saying, oddly distant under a rush of...disbelief or sorrow or horror or all of them all at once, he wasn't even certain.
Edward had turned seventeen the day before.
Marie and Herman were both grimly silent; doubtless, they'd been aware of the date before they'd even driven down to Ishval.
Not for the first time, Roy hated how removed he was from...everything, down in Ishval. It wasn't just public opinion and tragedies, it was the date.
He shook himself and settled in to read through the article. It covered pretty much the same information as what Marie and Herman had told them down at the fort, with the addition of the casualty numbers and information about the funerals and memorials. There was an article on the next page about train service being resumed on Monday, and a couple of articles covering public response to the bombing. It was nearly unanimously in favour of Edward, he couldn't help but notice, but this was the East Post, which had always seemed to have a soft spot for the youngest State Alchemist, even when he went on one of his destruction sprees. The single disapproving article was actually fairly mild in its criticism, compared to how journalists usually attacked members of the military when they messed up.
The back page was a list of the deceased, with a column dedicated to those currently in critical condition. Roy only intended to give it a cursory glance – out of respect; none of the people he personally cared about would have any reason to be on a southern-bound train – but his eyes caught on a name that was only passingly familiar, but brought to mind a memory of Edward sitting across from him in his broom-cupboard office at the academy, practically snarling, "Parnall came out, said Siemans was otherwise occupied, so he'd be our instructor for the day. Said some bullshit about the uptick of interest in hand-to-hand meaning they were gonna speed up the cadets' training in that, then told Rebecca – Cadet Flanders – to serve as his 'assistant'. I stopped her, told him if he wanted to hit someone, he could hit me, and he waved me up."
"Shit," he heard himself say, couldn't even bring himself to care that his usual filters had failed.
Three down from Pte Rebecca Flanders was another familiar name, Pte Nicholas Halberstadt, Jr.
Roy had been so proud to discover that Edward – unconscious though it may have been – had been using him as an example of the sort of commander he wanted to be, but now, with this...
Roy knew exactly what he would do, if he saw the name of one of his subordinates on that list, what he had done, when Maes had been murdered. If Edward followed his example in this, he was going to walk away hating himself. Worse, he'd probably self-destruct; Roy knew all too well how Edward felt about killing, was still halfway waiting for the fall-out from his father's sacrifice.
"General?" Marie called, concern in her voice.
Roy pushed away from the table; he needed to find a way to get to Central before the end of the weekend, because he doubted Edward would be willing to wait much longer than that, whether Grumman made it a direct order or not. "Fullmetal knew people on that train," he explained, before stepping around the table and making for the front door; maybe he could use his rank to ignore the rail closures.
Behind him, he heard Herman letting out a string of curses worthy of Edward's usual foul mouth.
He stepped rapidly down the road to the station, couldn't say what his expression was, only that the villagers moved quickly out of his way with frowns that looked more worried than discontent.
The station was, of course, completely empty, a sign on the ticket counter window notifying all travellers that rail travel had been suspended until further notice, by order of Führer Grumman.
Roy turned towards the tracks, where a cold train sat, waiting for the all-clear to start its way up to East City, and grimaced as an Edward-worthy idea – stealing the engine and winging it as best he could – popped into his head.
Was he that desperate? He could always ring Grumman again, tell him to just throw Edward into prison, if necessary. Probably throw the chimeras he was travelling with in there, too, in case they got it in mind to break the young man out.
(It occurred to him that he should try to properly meet Edward's travelling companions when he got to Central, because he remembered fighting with a few chimeras on the Promised Day, but he couldn't say which ones were with Edward, and his brief mentions of them in his reports didn't help at all in figuring it out.)
Behind him, a vehicle honked its horn, then a familiar voice called, "Yo, Chief!"
Roy turned to look and found Havoc just stepping out of his beat up pick-up, wearing a smile that looked strained. "Havoc?" he asked, couldn't quite keep the surprise from his voice.
Havoc's smile sharpened and he knocked a fist against the bonnet of the pick-up. "Yup. I got a rush delivery up in Central, came looking for a second driver."
That wasn't in any iteration of the code Roy had used with his team, but he didn't need a guide to translate it: Havoc had heard about the bombing and knew someone needed to talk Edward down before he did something he'd regret.
Roy wondered if he'd ever truly regret making Havoc a member of his team; even retired, he was still working to support Roy and everyone else who'd stayed, despite everything he'd lost standing at Roy's side.
"I'll get my bag," he said as he turned to head back down the path towards Marie's home.
"I'll figure out how to turn around," Havoc called after him, clearly intended to be a joke, but his voice was a little too flat.
Marie was the only one in the kitchen when he got back to her house, and she opened the door with a worried look.
"A friend came down from East City," Roy offered in a bid to ease her concern. "We're leaving for Central right away."
She nodded and stepped out of his way, following at a distance as he moved into the living room and picked up his bag, glancing around to make sure he hadn't left anything out. (He shouldn't have, had been careful about packing back up everything he took out of the bag, but it never hurt to be certain.)
Marie saw him to the door before quietly saying, "Tell him we're thinking of him. All of us."
"I will," Roy promised.
She nodded and, when she didn't say anything further, Roy inclined his head and returned to Havoc.
Havoc tossed him the keys when he reached him, and Roy shot him an unimpressed look, even as he stepped around to the driver's side.
"Hey," Havoc said as they both got in and Roy started the pick-up, "I'm not your designated driver any more. I'm going to enjoy the chance to make you drive, for once. Sir."
Roy shook his head and shifted them into gear, then started them along the dirt road. "You'll have to drive eventually," he couldn't resist pointing out.
"Yeah, eventually."
Roy couldn't quite stop a snort.
Havoc was quiet until Resembool had turned into a hazy speck in the mirrors, finally asked, "You heard?"
"Yes," Roy agreed quietly. "Two people from his academy squad were killed."
"Fuck."
"My sentiments exactly." Roy tightened his grip on the steering wheel and quietly admitted, "I wish Alphonse wasn't in Xing."
"Yeah," Havoc agreed, and Roy didn't need to look at him to know he was slumped in his seat, probably playing with a cigarette he hadn't quite decided to light yet; Roy was a little impressed at his restraint. "He'll listen to you, though."
Roy chanced a glance at him and, yeah, Havoc was playing with a cigarette. "Because you gave him that ruined lighter?"
Havoc glanced at him, quick enough Roy almost missed it, then shrugged and pulled out a pack of matches. "Maybe," he agreed.
"Open the window, or I'll burn up your entire cigarette before you can get anything out of it," Roy threatened, mostly for something to say.
"You're not wearing your gloves," Havoc cheerfully pointed out as he struck the match.
"I don't need my gloves any more."
Havoc held still for a long moment, until the flame crept down far enough to burn his fingers. Then he yelped, quickly waved it out, and rolled down his window to toss the spent match out. He didn't roll it back up as he struck another match and lit his cigarette, just tossed the second match out after the first one, then turned slightly, so most of the smoke went outside.
"Thank you."
Havoc gave a vague nod and remained silent while he smoked his cigarette. As he stubbed it out on the burnt edge of an ashtray on the console between them, then added it to the already impressive collection, he said, "He didn't need the lighter to stay."
Oddly enough, Roy had already figured that part out for himself; Havoc never would have passed that on if Edward hadn't already been determined to remain a member of the military. "I know."
"He'll listen to you," Havoc said again, a little more insistent.
Roy remembered sitting across from Edward on a train, the young man turning to him for help in managing the problem with Parnall. And in that broom-cupboard office, the way some of the strain had fled from Edward's expression when Roy had promised that he would be with him through the entire trial. "I know," he said again.
If Havoc had a response to that, he kept it to himself.
Come What May Chapters:
01 || 02 || 03 || 04 || 05 || 06 || 07 || 08 || 09 || 10
11 || 12 || 13 || 14 || 15 || 16 || 17 || 18 || 19 || 20
Extras:
Ch 04 (Roy) || Ch 07 (Roy) ||
Ch 10 (Darius - NSFW) || Ch 16 (Ed - NSFW) || Ch 17 (Roy)
We All Need Saving Chapters:
Unposted
Dancing With the Devil Chapters:
Unposted
.
